Number of kids diagnosed with refractive errors go up in Coimbatore
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Coimbatore: Refractive errors among children have increased alarmingly post-Covid, say experts. The screenings conducted at 514 govt and corporation schools in the district in the past two years under the state govt's Kannoli Kappom Thittam scheme also found an increase in the students with refractive errors.
While only 8,070 of the 1,07,260 students screened were identified with refractive errors in 2023-24, 11,053 of the 1,51,132 students screened were diagnosed with the condition in 2024-25. All the children with refractive errors were provided with spectacles.
District health officials, however, attributed the increase in refractive cases to the higher number of students screened.
Dr M Prabhu Shankar, senior ophthalmology consultant at Shankara Eye Hospital, said, "There is a global increase in refractive errors among children, especially in Asian countries, post-Covid, due to increased indoor activities and exposure to mobile phones." He said the only way to reduce this defect was to engage the children in outdoor activities and focus on distant objects.
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